26 THE NEW POCKET FARRIER. 



windgalls, particularly about the hind legs, if he be 

 much used. 



THE PASTERN AND PASTERN-JOINT. 



Take care that the pastern-joint be clear and well knit 

 together, and that the pastern be strong, short and up- 

 right ; for if the pastern-joint be big or swelled, beware 

 of sinew strains ; if the pastern be long, weak or bend- 

 ing, the limbs will hardly be able to carry the body 

 without tiring. Indeed the experience of every one will 

 tell you that horses with long pasterns cannot travel near 

 80 well as those with short ones. 



HOOFS. 



The hoofs should be proportioned to the size of the 

 horse, black, smooth, tough, nearly round, deep, hollow, 

 and full-sounding; for white hoofs are tender, and carry 

 a shoe ill, and a brittle hoof will carry no shoe at all : 

 a flat hoof, that is pumiced, shows foundering ; and a 

 hoof that is empty, and hollow-sounding, shows a de- 

 cayed inward part, by reason of some wound or dry 

 founder, if the hair lie smooth, and close about the 

 crown of the hoof, and the flesh flat and even, then all 

 is perfect ; but should the hair be there rough, the skin 

 scabbed, and the flesh rising, you may then be appre- 

 hensive of a ring bone, a crown scab, or a quitter bone. 



Some horses' hoofs are not round, but broad, spreading 

 out of the sides and quarters ; such have, for the most 

 part, narrow heels, and will at length come to be flat- 

 hoofed, neither will they carry their shoes long, nor 

 travel far, being apt to surbate or founder. Horses with 

 crooked hoofs are splay-footed, and consequently go with 



